While on paternity leave, and fighting off minor illness, my big project ended up being setting up a media server (Debian, Jellyfin) and converting our relatively small DVD collection to be available on it. I\’ve wanted to do this forever (probably about 6 months), and it\’s been great.

Hardest part is that even with a relatively small DVD collection, converting DVD\’s takes time. I\’ve got 3 PC\’s currently active doing it and I\’m setting up a fourth I haven\’t used in ages to help.

Well, actually the hardest part is that certain DVD\’s simply will not read. I\’m guessing their scratches are so perfectly strategically located that they are worthless. I don\’t know. I\’ve tried various tricks, but they just don\’t read certain sectors. It would have to be movies I know we actually care about (TWO of the original Star Wars, The Incredibles, Tangled) rather than, oh, I don\’t know, Chitty-Chitty Bang-Bang or something.

Notes:

• Old laptops do conversions way slower than my main PC.
• The toothpaste trick doesn\’t work. Or at least hasn\’t so far.
• Linux is amazing. No cost for the software on any computer I\’m using.
• Debian is solid, but often a pain. Getting three monitors to work on my main desktop was more trouble than, well, almost anything else. But it worked out in the end after some trouble.
• Ubuntu is so easy. If you\’ve never used Linux and want to, go with Ubuntu or Ubuntu Mate.
• Plex was easy to install, but the interface was irksome. I get and respect that they\’re trying to make money, but I just don\’t want a bunch of \”free\” schlocky movies as my default interface.
• Jellyfin was free, just as easy as Plex, and doesn\’t have the extra \”free\” movies.
• But I\’ve still got to figure out how to get our Firestick to work. It at least looks reasonably easy (no clue how to select my username, but I\’m sure some doc on the internets will explain).
• HandBrake took some getting used to, but after figuring out the DVD licensing stuff, (sudo apt install dvdread[tab] and you\’re golden), it was easy. (edited to add: It was actually libdvdread[tab]. And I forgot that you also have to do sudo apt install libdvd-pkg, then copy and paste the thing that pops up saying sudo dpkg-reconfigure libdvd-pkg. That\’s required to get the DVD stuff to work on Ubuntu or *buntu. I\’m not really even sure if the libdvdread[tab] one is necessary, but the libdvd-pkg one definitely is.)
• Figuring out if this was legal was…interesting. But I\’m going with the \”gray but moral\” definition. They\’re DVD\’s I own, I\’m not sharing them with anyone, and FairUse FTW. If any lawyers read this, please, go away.

I just withdrew from school, probably for the last time ever. I don\’t think I\’ll ever re-enroll; it\’s just not in the cards.

There were a variety of reasons for doing this. But a major part is that I\’m increasingly disgusted with the effects of school. I get the impression that people who respect and adore degrees, and education (all rise!) are cool-shamed far too easily. So adieu. Farewell.

But that\’s not the only reason. Another real reason is that my company is increasingly going along with the COVID nonsense full bore. It\’s nauseating. And if I take classes, I\’m in debt to my company for at least one year (or rather, they can make me pay it back if I leave for any reason). I don\’t want such apron strings right now.

And finally, a major reason is just family time. I have a lot of kids and a lovely wife. Ain\’t nobody got time for school.

Likes:

1. Dark mode. I had coworkers doing this way before I gave it a shot. I thought they were just being \”cool^TM.\” It\’s really better. I really do enjoy computers better when not having bright colors blasted at me all day. When I run across a page that somehow obviates the amazing Dark Reader extension it makes me a little sad. See first \”don\’t like.
2. Bourbon. I could almost name this a list of \”likes I used to not like.\” I used to really dislike bourbon. I drink Evan Williams most often, but do appreciate Jack Daniels (but it\’s too expensive).

Don\’t likes:

1. I don\’t like WordPress\’s dealing with numbered lists. It\’s really difficult to get it to not include a title in the numbered list. Word nails this better, and it\’s hard there. COME ON.
2. Firefox\’s home page not obeying the Dark Mode extension. Come on, FF, get with the program.
3. Likes. I say repeatedly \”Not like\” when my kids or other significant others say \”it\’s like,\” or whatever. It\’s an addictive habit, and one that is difficult to stop, even when you loathe it. Please don\’t like.

OK, that\’s all for now.

OK, I\’m trying actual Ubuntu. Xubuntu was OK, but I\’m kind of tired of it. There are a few things in Ubuntu I wanted, anyway.

So far, biggest find has been \”dash to panel.\” I really don\’t like the dash (notifications, etc.) being up top. Down on the bottom is where it\’s at. Much improved, and super-easy to get it done.

One thing I found annoying in Xubuntu that\’s easy in Ubuntu is mouse control and scrolling. I know it\’s kind of stupid, but I don\’t want to have to spend a ton of time adjusting my mouse settings. I just want my browser to work so I can do work, but \”play\” when I want to. Ubuntu does this well.

Now it\’s time to try some actual work.

New year, new goals…and it feels great. Doing intermittent fasting again (which doesn\’t always feel great, but feels great), and getting back in the habit of exercise and education.

One big thing I\’m trying really hard to do is making flashcards a regular (and updated) part of my life. I requested a writing tablet for work to help facilitate that. I really hope it works. I\’m also learning LaTex. So far, so good.

This is one of the first Bach songs I reeeeeally liked. BWV 906. But I felt almost guilty about it. It wasn\’t a fugue, and I was studying for the LSAT and wanted to improve my brain, and fugues by Bach were supposed to do that.

I just found it again today and…it\’s good, but not really in the league as my current All Time Favorite song: BWV 542. The Great, fugue in G minor.

Trying to get LaTex going on Anki with MiKTex, I kept having errors. After trying a bunch of stuff the internet suggested I hit on this: select \”Always install missing packages on-the-fly.\” That was it.

Then the first time I tried to use an Anki card that included LaTex it took a long time for it to load, presumably because it was downloading a required file, but it did eventually load.

I\’m considering degoogling my life. It seems like a decent definition. But I guess it really has more to do with personalizing my life. It\’s all Snowden\’s fault.

Well, sort of. Snowden, to me, is an enigma. I can\’t really figure him out. On the one hand, he seems legitimately interested in not having the Government screw over the world (I nearly wrote \”us,\” meaning, I think, the US population, but it\’s more like everyone).

But if you go down this path of conspiracy, it becomes wheels within wheels. Who do you trust? Anybody? Nobody? It\’s maddening. If you believe what Snowden\’s pushing, we\’re in real trouble. But I do pretty much believe it. It makes sense.

But where does that leave me? I\’m an engineer for a large EE company. I get paid to do engineering work. I have \”big brother\” on my phone all the time. I don\’t really like that. My wife took her bra off last night in our bathroom, in a completely asexual way, but I noticed that at least one of our phones was potentially \”available,\” and the thought of some jerk in a cubicle seeing that is infuriating.

Anyway, for any of you NSA pukes watching, I have no desire to screw over the US. I\’m a law-abiding citizen (mostly–I eat and drink [non-alcoholic] drinks while driving in WA, which might be illegal). I love my country for the foundation for which it was built and the freedoms I still have.

I want to be more \”undercover,\” but I don\’t know how that\’s realistically possible at this point. I want to do so for the sole reason that it\’s none of their business what I\’m doing. I don\’t like the idea of some ass-hat (pardon the French) being able to enable my webcam at his leisure and voyeurise my wife (or me). I don\’t like the thought that anything I type in my browser, even if deleted, is potentially recorded and stored. It\’s disgusting. It\’s alien to the way our country is supposed to behave.

Got me a new computer today. Booya. Well, new to me. A Thinkpad x250. So far, me likey a lot. It\’s kind of like my Chromebook, but with a way bigger SSD and access to Windows. I feel like I\’m home. Happy sigh.

Next up is to try to get a decent version of Linux on it. I reformatted the hard drive and reinstalled Windows right away, since, well, that\’s what I do. So I made a partition for it then. Now to figure out what to choose. I\’m sure I\’ll choose a *buntu. Well, maybe. Maybe I\’ll try out Debian for reals. I don\’t know. Probably I\’ll stick with a flavor of Ubuntu. Maybe Ubuntu Proper since this is probably a fast enough laptop to handle that.

Anyway, I wanted to try out the keyboard and so far I\’d say it\’s pretty good. Maybe a little stiffer than I\’d prefer, but definitely not bad. I can type decently fast, it works, and I don\’t see any obvious flaws.

Touchpad is great. I fixed the Trackpoint issues that always seem to be present with Windows 10 quickly, so that\’s good.

Edited to add: You must select \”Use as middle click\” in the mouse settings for the settings above to work correctly. Otherwise, apparently the button does nothing.

All in all, so far, I like it a lot!

I\’ve tried a good bit to find a good fit for my Samsung Chromebook 3. I mean, ChromeOS is great and all, but, well, I want a real OS. I really like this little portable, and wanted to make a Linux possible.

I\’d been trying \”half measures,\” like chrx.org, Gallium, etc. They all had downsides. Gallium would have the mouse randomly stop working, for instance. Plus I\’d read somewhere that Gallium\’s life might be shortlived. So I decided to go with Xubuntu proper. Enter angelic choir.

It\’s been great so far. The only issue I\’ve encountered is that the palm detection wasn\’t enabled by default, so it\’d jump around while typing, but enabling that was pretty easy. I think it still needs a little tweaking, but it\’s still way better than default.

I guess I haven\’t tried out Bluetooth. Hang on, I\’ve got my earbuds….

That was fairly easy. Had to change it from \”headset\” to \”audio sync,\” but that seemed to take care of the initial goofiness it presented.

Otherwise, no real issues. Mouse seems responsive, the wifi worked out of the box, no blinking with the screen.

I\’m pleased. Very pleased.